The hot springs of Ulu Jelai
A brief field note by A.D. Machado describing the hot springs he observed in the Ulu Jelai district of Pahang during prospecting work for the Malayan (Pahang) Exploration Co. in 1900.
Summary
Machado reports finding seven non-eruptive hot springs on a spur of the main range dividing Pahang from Perak (approx. 4°20′ N, 101°30′ E), where water and steam flow over granitic boulders into the Cha-ang stream, a tributary of the Jelai (p. 263). He notes a discrepancy with his Sakai guide’s earlier account of a single eruptive geyser-like fountain, suggesting a structural change within roughly ten years. The springs exhibit sulphurous odour and silica/sulphur deposits on boulder rims, and are visited by wild animals drawn to their saline properties (p. 263). Machado compares their geological formation to springs at Maliwun (Lower Burma), Renong (Siamese Malaya), and Ojigoku (Hakone, Japan) (pp. 263–264).
The note also provides a short ethnographic and economic sketch of Ulu Jelai, noting that the district was alienated by the Pahang Government to the Toh Raja Jelai, is inhabited almost exclusively by Sakais who cultivate hill paddy and tapioca, and is rich in rattans, agarwood, gutta, gold, and tin ore (p. 264).